Briquet designs that facilitate close packing and improve burn efficiency are provided herein. Such designs can include scaled down briquet size and close packing shapes, which can include pyramidal shaped portions, such as rectangular pyramids and tetrahedron shapes, as well as oblate spheroid and hexoid shapes, to facilitate closer random packing when the briquets are randomly arranged in a pile when poured from a bag. Some briquet shapes can further include special surface features, such as flattened or rounded portions or depressions, such as dimples, that reduce volume without increasing the bulk density in order to further improve burn performance and efficiency.

A combustible cooking brick and cover device assembly for controlled and mess-free grilling includes a combustible cooking brick and a cover device. The combustible cooking brick comprises crushed charcoal and at least 2% lighter fluid by weight. The brick is rectangular prismatic and proportioned to fit within a standard barbeque grill. A cover device comprises a lid body having an upper face and a sidewall extending outward and downward from a perimeter of the upper face. The sidewall and the upper face define a lid interior dimensioned to contain the combustible cooking brick. A handle is coupled to the lid body and a lip is coupled to the lid body. The lip horizontally extends from a lower edge of the sidewall.

A process comprising passing methane through a reaction zone comprising a molten salt/metal bed under reaction conditions to produce a gas stream comprising hydrogen and a solid carbon product wherein the reaction zone comprises a hydrogen acceptor.

A two-reactor catalytic system including a catalytic membrane gasification reactor and a catalytic membrane water gas shift reactor. The catalytic system, for converting biomass to hydrogen gas, features a novel gasification reactor containing both hollow fiber membranes that selectively allow O.sub.2 to permeate therethrough and a catalyst that facilitates tar reformation. Also disclosed is a process of converting biomass to H2. The process includes the steps of, among others, introducing air into a hollow fiber membrane; mixing the O.sub.2 permeating through the hollow fiber membrane and steam to react with biomass to produce syngas and tar; and reforming the tar in the presence of a catalyst to produce more syngas.

A two-reactor catalytic system including a catalytic membrane gasification reactor and a catalytic membrane water gas shift reactor. The catalytic system, for converting biomass to hydrogen gas, features a novel gasification reactor containing both hollow fiber membranes that selectively allow O.sub.2 to permeate therethrough and a catalyst that facilitates tar reformation. Also disclosed is a process of converting biomass to H2. The process includes the steps of, among others, introducing air into a hollow fiber membrane; mixing the O.sub.2 permeating through the hollow fiber membrane and steam to react with biomass to produce syngas and tar; and reforming the tar in the presence of a catalyst to produce more syngas.

A system for and method of, processing post-consumer and post-industrial waste streams, producing active ingredients for waste stream processing, processing aqueous waste streams, preparing and collecting a multi-purpose chemical precursor, removing phosphates, nitrates, heavy metals, and other contaminants from aqueous waste streams, collecting and processing a post-consumer and post-industrial product from aqueous waste streams, administering and positioning assets and processes associated with waste stream processing, and scheduling operations for sub-systems of the system.

A method of operating a mass spectrometer vacuum interface, the vacuum interface comprising an evacuated expansion chamber downstream of a plasma ion source at atmospheric or relatively high pressure, the expansion chamber having a first aperture that interfaces with the plasma ion source to form an expanding plasma downstream of the first aperture and a second aperture downstream of the first aperture from the plasma for skimming the expanding plasma to form a skimmed expanding plasma; wherein the expansion chamber is pumped by an interface vacuum pump to provide an interface pressure in the chamber; the method comprising using a controller to automatically, or according to user input, control the throughput of the interface vacuum pump to control the interface pressure dependent on one or more operating modes of the spectrometer. A pressure gauge can be located in the expansion chamber and a feedback loop provided between the pressure gauge and controller.

A fuel additive composition has a base fuel; colloidal nanocarbon particles, and a dispersion stabilizer that aids in stably suspending the colloidal nanocarbon particles in the base fuel. This abstract is not to be considered limiting, since other embodiments may deviate from the features described in this abstract.

The coal-derived solid hydrocarbon particles are discrete particles of coal-derived carbonaceous matter having a particle size less than about 10 m that are substantially free of inherent or entrained mineral matter. The particles of have an average particle size in the range from 1 m to 8 m. The particles of coal-derived carbonaceous matter are milled to a size approximately the same as a size of coal-derived mineral matter inherent in the coal source to release inherent coal-derived mineral matter particles such that the particles of carbonaceous matter and the particles of mineral matter are discrete and separable solid particles. Following separation, less than 1.5 wt. % discrete coal-derived mineral matter particles are associated with the discrete particles of coal-derived carbonaceous matter. Particles of coal-derived solid hydrocarbon matter are blended with a gaseous or liquid hydrocarbon fuel to form a two-phase hydrocarbon fuel feedstock.

The coal-derived solid hydrocarbon particles are discrete particles of coal-derived carbonaceous matter having a particle size less than about 10 m that are substantially free of inherent or entrained mineral matter. The particles of have an average particle size in the range from 1 m to 8 m. The particles of coal-derived carbonaceous matter are milled to a size approximately the same as a size of coal-derived mineral matter inherent in the coal source to release inherent coal-derived mineral matter particles such that the particles of carbonaceous matter and the particles of mineral matter are discrete and separable solid particles. Following separation, less than 1.5 wt. % discrete coal-derived mineral matter particles are associated with the discrete particles of coal-derived carbonaceous matter. Particles of coal-derived solid hydrocarbon matter are blended with a gaseous or liquid hydrocarbon fuel to form a two-phase hydrocarbon fuel feedstock.